


The Touch Of Your Hand Says You'll Catch Me Wherever I Fall

by revenblue



Series: [collection] but you keep spinning 'round me just the same (Perryshmirtz) [87]
Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Character Study, Gentle Kissing, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, POV Third Person Omniscient
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-19 15:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22067305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revenblue/pseuds/revenblue
Summary: "Curse you, Perry the Platypus," he whispered without force as he curled around the familiar ache in his chest, sure his nemesis wouldn't want to see him like this.
Relationships: Heinz Doofenshmirtz/Perry the Platypus
Series: [collection] but you keep spinning 'round me just the same (Perryshmirtz) [87]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/746841
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	The Touch Of Your Hand Says You'll Catch Me Wherever I Fall

Staring at the wreckage of his latest inator, Heinz Doofenshmirtz fell to his knees, swallowing back tears. He'd failed, yet again. Nothing new, but while he normally tried not to let it bother him, there were days when he couldn't escape the feelings of inadequacy.

Worst of all, his nemesis had already turned away, walking out the door.

"Curse you, Perry the Platypus," he whispered without force as he curled around the familiar ache in his chest, sure his nemesis wouldn't want to see him like this.

Already halfway down the hallway, Perry stopped. Turned around. He had, over the short time they'd been nemesis, developed a strange affection for his nemesis. In Heinz, he'd found an enemy he respected, a friend he trusted, someone so much more than either of those things alone.

Returning to the lab, he pushed the door open just a crack. The sight of Heinz there, smaller than Perry had ever seen him, twisted in his heart.

Flinging the door the rest of the way open, he crossed the room to his nemesis, steps slow and measured, not wanting to spook the man. He, for once, couldn't predict what Heinz would do or how he'd react, not when his nemesis was in such a heightened state.

A gentle chirr brought Heinz's tear-filled eyes up to meet his. "You came back," the man croaked.

Perry, just out of reach and not daring to come any closer, nodded, offering his paw to his nemesis. Yes, yes he had. Heinz needed him.

Wiping his eyes, Heinz sniffed, taking the offered paw. To his surprise, Perry didn't make any motion to pull him to his feet, instead drawing closer, his other paw coming up around Heinz's jaw.

His bill followed a moment later, pressing to Heinz's lips in a crude approximation of a kiss, informed almost entirely from overly dramatic soap operas. Despite all this, Heinz had never before been kissed with so much genuine emotion and longing.

"You-"

Covering the man's lips with his thumb, Perry shared a soft smile, nodding again. Yes, yes he _did_ mean it.

Heinz swallowed, suddenly re-evaluating his friendship with his nemesis over the last while, and the feelings he'd long convinced himself could never be reciprocated. How long had Perry been thinking of this? Of closeness, of intimacy, of kissing. Of kissing _him_.

Longer than Perry himself knew, the magnitude of what he'd done just hitting him now. Even as he wondered, he stayed in place, staring into Heinz's deep blue eyes, feeling no regret for his actions. What was there to regret? It had felt _right_ , like Heinz's hand in his own, like this friendship they'd built. A natural progression, as inevitable as their fights.

Besides, he was off the clock, and if he chose to spend that time with his nemesis that was his own business. Goodness knew the man needed the company.

It was Heinz who brought their mouths together the second time, a strangled whimper deep in his throat. All this time, he'd been worried about what his nemesis thought of him, if Perry actually liked his company or just showed up because he was _paid_ to, if he'd gone too far, all because Perry tended to be understated in his affection.

And yet, for those who knew where to look, that affection was evident in his every gesture. It wasn't something Perry had needed to _hide_. He'd be there with a blanket, a comforting paw, a bus ticket, whatever Heinz needed.

Such gestures came easily to him. Recognition had never been the point, nor had it ever been an option with his family, in disguise as he'd had to be.

As he'd become more comfortable with the duality of his relationship with Heinz, nemesis and friend, Perry had found himself letting down not only his walls but his need to fit a role. A mask. His family expected one thing from him, his superiors another, but all Heinz had ever wanted from him was a listening ear. Through that freedom, he'd found room to grow, to be open, with the one person who could see the whole of who he was and accept that without question.

Heinz hadn't noticed, not until this moment. A lifetime of having affection, adoration, paraded around in front of him, a performance as much for the observers as the recipient, had left him unable to recognise anything less than a public demonstration as love. He'd never been the focus of it himself until Charlene, who'd made up with money what she'd lacked in attention.

All this had left him blind to Perry's quiet expressions of love. Though neither of them could put that word to it, their bond was built on love, patient and kind and thoughtful, love that carried them through when their mistakes put strain on their relationship.

They'd made many such mistakes already, and would make many more in the years to come. Mistakes that left them hurting, wounded, unmoored without the other. Mistakes they'd overcome together.

"Will you stay?" Heinz breathed into the space between them, eyes squeezed tightly shut in apprehension, still asking himself if _this_ would be the moment Perry left him, if this was too far. And yet it was only here, with his nemesis, that he could uncover his deepest aches without fear, the scars of his life laid bare for Perry alone to see, for he'd come to trust Perry with all his heart. A feeling that was emphatically mutual. Oblivious as he was to his nemesis's quiet affection, Heinz had come to rely on Perry's steady presence on a deeper level than he knew, some part of him recognising the underlying meaning of his nemesis's actions, though he lacked the words to describe it.

Only now, with his nemesis's quiet words lingering in the air, words Heinz had wanted to say out loud for so long, did Perry set about pulling Heinz to his feet, paws tucked firmly into shaking fingers. Of course he'd stay. Whatever pain had brought this man to his knees still hung over him like a shadow, but as he urged Heinz into a nearby armchair, climbing into his lap to listen to his steadying heartbeat, he hoped Heinz was through the worst of it.

And there they stayed, entwined around each other, until Heinz's breathing evened out. "Thank you, Perry the Platypus," he murmured, pressing a kiss to Perry's brow.

Perry chirred softly in acknowledgement, turning to meet Heinz's mouth with his own, their newfound intimacy already second-nature. Nothing much would change, in the end. Only the things that already had.

And yet, at the same time, everything would change. Just as Perry himself had learned, through his relationship with his nemesis, that he could be _enough_ as he already was rather than somehow lacking some unknowable part that could make him whole, so too would Heinz. And Perry would be there for him, by his side, every step of the way.

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from [When You Say Nothing At All](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsbkk4SZAqA) by Ronan Keating, because I listened to it in the process of ringing in 2020 with 1999's music and got ship/wip feels.
> 
> Perryshmirtz server in series description, where amongst other things I sometimes talk about/preview my wips before they're finished. Or ramble about character analysis like the one I basically just rewrote into this XD


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